National Accountancy Library of the United States at the University of Mississippi

1

ANNOUNCING
THE NATIONAL ACCOUNTANCY LIBRARY
OF THE UNITED STATES
AT THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI
American Institute of CPAs'
Library Finds Permanent
Home at UM-Oxford
UNIVERSITY, Miss. — The
largest and most prestigious ac­counting
library collection in the
world — that of the American
Institute of Certified Public Ac­countants
(AICPA) — has ar­rived
at The University of Mis­sissippi
(UM) to be housed per­manently
in the John Davis Wil­liams
Library.
Officials from the New York-based
organization presented the
collection of 126,000 items to
University officials on the Ox­ford
campus on Monday, August
6. Participants were Jay
Rothberg, AICPA vice president
— Office of the CEO, and Dr.
Gary J. Previts of Case Western
Reserve University, a member of
the AICPA Foundation Board of
Trustees.
"The University of Missis­sippi
is one of the nation's most
well-respected names in accoun­tancy
education." said Rothberg.
"We at the AICPA are pleased
that our collection will reside
with an institution that has con­tributed
so much to excellence in
the profession."
Upon accepting the collec­tion,
including the first published
accounting book (Pacioli's fa­mous
Summa de Arithmetica,
Geometria, Proportioni et Pro-portionalita)
printed in Venice
in 1494, Chancellor Robert Kha-yat,
expressed the University's
gratitude, calling it a scholarly
treasure.
"This library not only will
provide a rich resource for our
students, faculty and staff, but
also enhance the research stature
of our university and the state of
Mississippi. As more material in
libraries becomes digital, we be­lieve
that unique research collec­tions
such as this one will help
reinforce our national promi­nence
and enhance our quest to
become a member of the na­tional
Association of Research
Libraries," said Khayat.
Rothberg said the Institute
chose the University of Missis­sippi
because of its strong tech­nological
and archival capabili­ties.
He cited the University's
6 The Accounting Historians Notebook, October 2001